FLINT, MI — If you want to know which poultry eggs have a double or triple yolk or what breed of chicken is the best for meat or eggs, Hugh Godfrey is your man.

He ought to know: He's been selling chicken and eggs for the past 50 years at the Flint Farmers' Market.

On Saturday, March 1, the Flint Farmers'
Market will present Godfrey with an award in the shape of a golden
egg around 11 a.m. to honor his half century of sales at the market.

Godfrey, 84, has been selling fresh farm
chicken, chicken eggs, seed corn and grain nuts at Godfrey's Poultry and Eggs
at the Flint Farmers' Market since 1964. The
family owned-and-run business has always been a year-round vendor at the market. And
surprisingly, he never gets sick of eating the chickens. "That's what
we're having for dinner tonight. We always eat it," he laughed.

The soft-spoken man on a recent day wore a red-and-black flannel shirt and red baseball cap. He smiles with striking blue eyes from behind his vending station that is covered in old
pictures of his chickens -- different kinds -- and photos of his
family. "It's always been (about) family," he said.

"He is a
symbol of what this market is all about. He's the real deal. When you think of
a farmer's market, you think of somebody who has lived on a farm and wants to
bring their product for their customers. And that's Hugh," said Dick Ramsdell, Flint
Farmers' Market manager.

The market was a lot different back in the 1960s when he started selling there, Godfrey said. Its vendors sold mostly produce and it had 13 different poultry stalls. Godfrey watched it
transform into what it is today, with a larger variety of products.

Now, there are only two poultry stalls at the market — Godfrey Poultry and Howard
Farms. Ron and Linda Howard will not be
moving to the new location in May when the market relocates to a former Flint
Journal production building downtown.

"I wish they would come. They're good
friends and good people. They have land right next to our farm," said Godfrey.

"He's
such a great guy," said Linda Howard, owner of Howard Farms.

"He would do anything for anybody. He never changes. He's been
here a long time. He's a good friend, as we all are down here. Fifty years — that's a long time to be down here. You just keep doing what
you love. He loves doing this," said Howard.

When asked if he ever thought about leaving, Godfrey shook his head and said, "No. I enjoy it. I enjoy the people."

"You really get to know the customers. We
have so many nice customers. There are people from
all walks of life. Summer is my favorite time of year at the market. It's
really busy and there is a lot of activity. The kids, grandkids, and now
great-grandkids, always have something to do," Godfrey said. "Family
doesn't stick together nowadays like they used to."

Godfrey's eggs have certainly made an impression on his customers, some of whom drive into Flint from surrounding suburbs just for his eggs. They are always less than a
week old, but usually closer to three days old. His best sellers are the jumbo
eggs.

"I've been coming here since I was a
kid with my grandparents. I hate to say it, but it's been about 50 years," said John Akers, 59, of Genesee Township. "The
eggs are the best eggs you've ever tasted. If you compare the store-bought
jumbos to his jumbos, it's like getting
mediums. He has the best eggs there are on sale and that's all there is to it."

"We've gotten spoiled on the eggs," said Lisa Marie Templin, owner of Steady Eddy's Cafe. Templin has noticed that Godfrey's jumbo eggs often have a double yolk inside.

"That's where we get all of our eggs,
sometimes chicken. I won't get eggs anywhere else but him now. You can tell
there's a big difference. The yolks are nice and bright.

"He and
his family are wonderful people. We all call him 'grandpa,'" said Templin.

It's no surprise that Godrey's eggs are the best, considering he has been a farmer his entire life. He worked on his parents' and
grandparents' farms before he had his own. Farming has been his family's only
source of income since before he was born in 1930.

The first time he killed a chicken was
when he was 7 or 8 years old. "You would just put them on a block and chop
their heads off. And they would flop all over and run off into the corn field.
You'd have to go find them," he remembered.

Godfrey has a hunter's mentality when it
comes to feeling bad for the chickens: "It's just a meal on the table." He also
loves deer hunting and fishing.

"We have two lakes on the farm and we
used to fish quite a bit. I love to hunt deer. I've got 30 or 40 over the
years." Godfrey proudly displays his most impressive kill, a six-point buck
with an 18-inch spread, in his living room.

He raised his own chickens for eggs and
meat into the early 1990s, having up to 5,000 chickens on his farm at any given
time. But now in his golden years, he gets them from his nephew, Larry Godfrey,
and granddaughter, Kristi Mockeridge.

Hugh Godfrey was born in the living room of a house that
sits on a 180-acre farm on Beard Road in Byron, Shiawassee County. The acreage
includes a farm and three houses. It has been in his family for four
generations. "It was my grandparents' (house) and then my parents' (house).
Then it was mine and now it's going to be hers," he said, pointing to Mockeridge, 35.

"There were four of us born in that
living room. The doctor just came out from Fowlerville and said, "Listen, when
you're ready to deliver, just bring me a cup of coffee and I'll come deliver
your baby. Dr. Jesse James Henry was my doctor's name. Those were the good, old
days," Godfrey laughed.

Godfrey was married for 50 years
before his wife, Carol Avonne Godfrey, died in 2007. He has three
children, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. The two met at
Morrice Methodist Church and married in 1957. Carol Godfrey suffered from a genetic disease that kept her sick for the last 30
years of her life. "She was sick for years, but like I said, ''Til death do you
part." People don't do that now."

Now, Godfrey lives with his oldest
daughter, Julie Cole. His brother, Robert Godfrey, his partner in Godfrey
Poultry, lives next door. Mockeridge and her three children; Tyler, 11, Carter,
9, and Parker, 6, live in the house Godfrey was born in, located half a mile
down the road. And Gordon Godfrey, Hugh Godfrey's youngest brother, owns his own
acreage and house across the street from Mockeridge.

When Godfrey was 34 years old, he and his brother started
selling at the Farmer's Market. "We just weren't making a go of it on the farm with just
eggs. I mean, you're selling eggs for 35 to 40 cents a dozen down in Detroit.
We couldn't do it," said Godfrey.

Mockeridge still has 140 chickens that
she raises, 70 that lay brown eggs and 70 that lay green eggs. All of their
white eggs and meat chickens come from Godfrey's nephew, Larry Godfrey, from
his farm in Bancroft.

After picking up their meat chickens from
Larry Godfrey, they take them to a processing center. Godfrey remembers that as a young
man they would use a funnel, cut the chicken's throat and let the blood drain
out. "You can't do that on your own unless it's for your own consumption. We
load them up and take them down to Howell. It all has to be done professionally
now," said Mockeridge.

"It takes a lot of hard work. You have
to know what to take the next day, how many chickens, how many eggs, brown eggs..."
said Godfrey.

"I
can't imagine the dedication it takes (to do this) for 50 years," Mockeridge said. "You get bad
days where you want to give up. You get a bad season where you want to give up.
But he taught me not to give up and to push through. Even during your bad days,
there's going to be a good day. And it's going to all be worth it in the end. I'm
working 33 hours a week, going to school, raising kids by myself, but had I not
had that influence, I wouldn't know how to do that," said Mockeridge.

When asked when he plans on retiring, Godfrey
smiled and said, "When I get ready. I don't know when." But for now, he and his
family will be moving to the new Market location, 300 E. First St., in May.

Those
wishing to share the celebration with Hugh Godfrey are encouraged to visit the market
Saturday. There will be a giant card/banner for people to leave their well
wishes.